10 Side Businesses you can Start Online

It’s a scary leap to just quit your job and try to earn enough money online. Even if you’re already home with the kids, it’s tough to work on your business full time while taking care of them. A lot of people may simply need to supplement their existing income. Luckily, many online business models make it perfectly feasible to work part-time from home.

It’s a popular concept. A 2014 Intuit study reported that 53% of all new start-ups in Canada are run by part-time entrepreneurs.

“It means that the average start-up – defined as a business in operation for three years or less – is not what it is commonly assumed to be,” the Intuit report states. “The true portrait of a Canadian start-up is the woman down the street who is working through nights and weekends in pursuit of her great new idea, while spending her days working for someone else.”

Low-Cost Side Hustles you can Start Online from Home

1. Freelance Content Writing, Video Production, or Graphics Design

Content is king online and companies are screaming for it. This can range from corporate blogging, to video production to graphics design (such as infographics). Set up a simple website and focus on promoting your personal brand. Don’t worry about hiring a website designer for now, just select a host with website building tools. They’re designed for those who don’t know HTML and they get more user-friendly every day. There are some website hosting suggestions below under “Online Store”.

2. Web translation

In Canada, there are a good number of websites, social media, and videos that need a French version. Set up a basic website and promote your services (see above). You can also network with web designers and even offer them a commission if they refer clients to you.

3. Start a Blog (But not Just any Blog)

Millions of people have started blogging, but far less make money doing so. Lucrative blogging has a learning curve but you don’t have to learn it all at once. The most important thing you need to know right now is you must choose a niche that is a happy medium between popularity and originality. You don’t want to start out with a topic that’s insanely saturated like your average “Mommy Blog”, you will be much more successful if you dig a niche out of it. Using the “Mommy Blog” as an example, you might want to narrow the niche to parenting teens, or go even deeper and write about parenting “difficult” teens, and so on.

Once you’re established, you can do quite well with sponsorship from individual companies and/or affiliate marketing. Most free, hosted blog platforms limit your income options, so check into hosting your own blog as soon as possible.

Affiliate programs allow you to advertise for a company and earn a percentage of the sales you generate for them. To make a decent amount of money with affiliate marketing, you’ll need a website. This will be your home base for everything from building a mailing list to social media promotion.

Many people are interested in affiliate marketing because they believe in the “make money while you sleep” concept. That may be technically true, but in reality successful affiliate marketing demands a lot of effort. Once you’ve established a following, both on your website and in newsletter subscribers, it will get easier. Tricks of the trade will increase the amount you make from affiliate marketing, such as promoting two-tier affiliate programs so you also get a piece of the sales made by those who sign up under you.

Virtual assistants may do anything from social media management to secretarial tasks. Whatever skill you have that can be done remotely, is marketable under the ‘Virtual Assistant’ label. Working as a virtual assistant has become even more feasible with the option of working and collaborating in “the cloud”. Tasks like collaborative design and accounting are easily accomplished thanks to “the cloud”, along with other online collaboration and file sharing tools.

7. “Member Only” Content

It’s relatively easy and economical to set up any WordPress blog with member-only content that you can charge a membership fee for. They’re often combined with private online communities on the topic, which can also be established with inexpensive WordPress plugins. Alternately, you may want to invest in a website management system that is specially designed for it.

Drop Shipping is the least expensive way to sell products without inventory. You make arrangements with a wholesale supplier or manufacturer to sell their products direct online. You can offer these products on your own website, or via online auctions like eBay, or through a sellers’ market like Amazon. The customer price minus the wholesale cost equals your profit.

Sell products or services online. This can be almost as inexpensive as other businesses, but you will have to purchase or produce inventory. Start with a few products or your own creations and let the sales feed your line expansion. Don’t go crazy and purchase or produce 5000 of each item, start small to test the market. Your profit margin may not be high when you buy in small quantities but your losses on products that don’t sell will be minimal.

The first thing you’ll need is a domain name that reflects your company, while keeping it as short as possible to make it easier for people to remember. We use reputable and well-established GreenGeeks for our domain names and hosting. You’ll also need a host with a shopping cart that has Canada Post integration, such as Shopify.

The perfect way to dip your toe into online business is through auctions and online marketplaces. This option can go well beyond eBay, with massive online marketplaces like Amazon, or specialized marketplaces like Etsy.

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If you love baking and are able to keep your hand out of the proverbial cookie jar, making gourmet cookies is a great side hustle with plenty of long-term potential. Start by learning how to execute unique and tasty gourmet cookie recipes, then seal the deal by creating or purchasing professional-looking packaging. Sell your cookies online or to people in your local community.

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